JAMMU: In the wake of continuing ceasefire violations by Pakistan, which has now killed six civilians in two days, JKNPP today held a demonstration here against the neighbouring country over its alleged "unabated meddling" in India's internal affairs and overt and covert support to secessionists and anti-national forces in Jammu and Kashmir.
About 200 activists of Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP), donning black clothes and led by their chairman Harsh Dev Singh, today held a massive demonstration near the Press Club Jammu here to register their protest against Pakistan.
The protesters raised anti-Pakistan slogans and accused the neighbouring country of gross unwarranted interference in the affairs of Jammu and Kashmir.
The protesters, who waved the national flag and held up placards, flayed the Union and state governments for failing to respond appropriately to the Pakistani ceasefire violations.
Talking to reporters here, Singh charged that "Pakistan is creating an environment of terror and fear by resorting to firing and shelling on the borders and targeting civilian villages and engineering terror attacks".
He lambasted the statement by Abdul Basit, the Pakistani High Commissioner to India, on August 14 that his country would "never abandon the Kashmiris' legitimate struggle for freedom".
Singh, who said that Basit should be declared a 'persona non grata' by India, further charged that the Pakistan High Commissioner's conduct has all along been highly outrageous and violative of diplomatic norms and practices.
The JKNPP chairman also called upon the international community to take cognisance of Pakistan's open support to the secessionists and its proven aid and abetment to militancy in J-K.
Admonishing Pakistan for its provocative utterances on Kashmir, terror training camps and drug trafficking, besides its propaganda against India, Singh said the neighbouring country's notoriety had assumed alarming proportions.
The hoisting of Pakistani and ISIS flags has become a routine feature in the state with the established support of Pakistan, he alleged while condemning the celebration of Pakistani Independence Day in Kashmir on August 14.
"With anti-national elements singing the Pakistan anthem and the government remaining a mute spectator" and the recent militant attacks in Udhampur district, a fear has arisen in Jammu region that Pakistan-sponsored terrorists have managed to enter areas once considered safe zones, he said.
Singh condemned the unprecedented ceasefire violations by Pakistan, saying it has threatened the survival of the border residents and is causing huge loss to their livestock, standing crops, houses and agricultural fields.
Taking a dig at BJP, he questioned the saffron party as to where its patriotic fervour had vanished in the face of blatant interference by Pakistan in J-K's affairs.
JKNPP, Singh said, was constrained to lodge a protest as BJP has abdicated its responsibility of questioning the belligerent nation over its misadventures and violent posturing.